Tighter budgets, bigger ambitions: How Australian SMEs travelled in FY26

Brisbane, Australia, 30 June 2026 – Despite economic headwinds, rising costs and a year of global uncertainty, Australian SMEs did not stop travelling in FY26 – they simply recalibrated with more intention.

Tom Walley, Global Managing Director of Corporate Traveller (Flight Centre Travel Group’s SME specialist), says the company's FY26 data tells a story that might surprise some: the appetite for face-to-face connection prevailed despite cost pressures and economic uncertainty.

"People want to meet in person. The value of sitting across the table from a client, or getting a whole team in the same room, still outweighs the cost and the effort to get there," he said.

Reflecting on FY26: Rising costs could not ground SME travellers

SME travel programs have grown considerably more complex over the past year. Multi-stop itineraries, international routes and logistically demanding trips, which were once the domain of large corporates, have become routine for businesses with lean internal teams and no dedicated travel manager.

The gap between program complexity and internal resources is showing up in the numbers. Travel and expense management was a top priority for 76 per cent of Corporate Traveller's customers in FY26 — a clear signal that businesses are feeling the weight of managing it.

"The complexity of travel has well and truly caught up with SMEs," Walley said. "But the headcount to manage it hasn't."

Another shift in FY26 was how SME travellers approached ‘bleisure’ (the blending of business and leisure travel). Three-quarters of SMEs reported their employees combined the two at some point during the year, with innovative businesses adapting their policies to support bleisure.

For many travellers, tacking personal time onto a work trip has become a practical way to spread out annual leave, decompress after an intensive schedule, and actually experience the places their jobs take them.

"It's one thing to fly in, do your meetings, and fly straight back out," Walley said. "It's another to give yourself a couple of extra days to unwind, explore a new city, and come home feeling like the trip was worth it — for you, not just the business. We're seeing more companies formalise that, and it's good for everyone."

What FY27 has in store: The businesses that plan well will pull ahead

Getting more from every dollar.

FY27 will see businesses focus more on having the right policies, technology and processes in place to make travel spend work as hard as possible, and to prove it internally. Compliance will be crucial, ROI will be scrutinised, and the businesses with the clearest visibility over their travel programs will have a genuine advantage.

Disruptions are the way of the world.

Geopolitical tensions, severe weather events, visa rule overhauls: the past year was a reminder that disruption is a permanent feature of business travel, not an occasional one.

"We've always known this, but it keeps proving itself," Walley added. "You can't predict disruptions, but you absolutely can prepare for them.

“That means a rock-solid travel policy, 24/7 emergency support, and someone in your corner who can rebook a flight at midnight, navigate a visa crisis, or find you an alternative route home when the world is upside down."

Productivity is driving investment in people and platforms.

Corporate Traveller has seen steady growth in premium cabin bookings as businesses recognise the straightforward logic: a rested traveller performs better. Airlines are responding in kind, with more premium cabin options entering the market across key business routes.

"The same productivity thinking that's driving businesses to invest in AI and better systems also applies to their people," Walley said. "And when your traveller lands ready to go rather than running on empty, that matters."

On the expense side, old-school reconciliation processes are costing businesses more than they realise, eating up roughly 30 per cent of finance teams' time, while spending leakage through out-of-policy purchases and manual errors runs at 8 to 12 per cent. It was this reality that drove Corporate Traveller to introduce CT Pay to the ANZ market.

"The last thing a weary traveller wants to do after a long trip is hunt down receipts and lodge expense claims," Walley said. "Getting that friction out of the process is just as important as getting the booking right in the first place."